Thingyan, the Burmese water festival

What is worn for Thingyan, the Burmese water festival

Thingyan is the Burmese new year, a water festival kept for about four days in mid April, from around 13 April, with the new year day on 17 April. People throw water on one another from pandals along the street, wash Buddha images and elders' hands, and go to monasteries to offer food. Women wear the htamein, the Burmese wrapped skirt, with a fitted jacket called an eingyi, and a flower in the hair, often the yellow padauk blossom, the flower of Thingyan. Groups of friends dress in matching colours. The htamein is a tube of cloth tied at the waist, and the Burmese longyi is the same garment for men. Silks of Amarapura and Mandalay are worn. The exact days are set each year by astrologers.

The sarees

LongyiThe Burmese tube skirt, called htamein for women.